"I have no intention, and I know Terry [Burns, Channel 4 chairman] and the board has no intention, of pursuing any partnerships in which the independence of Channel 4 is compromised," he said. "That would be like cutting out your heart to grow a new limb. It's not going to happen, not on my watch."

But Abraham said today that former chief executive Andy Duncan and ex-chairman Luke Johnson were right to reject a tie-up at that time as some form of equity dilution would have been involved.

On programming he said that it was important that Channel 4, which is set to air its 11th and final series of Big Brother this summer, continued to be cutting edge and take creative risks.

"I would far rather that commissioners adopted a 'no guts no glory' approach than played it safe," he added. "To fail nobly in my view is better than succeeding sheepishly. I relish the opportunity to defend intelligent creative risk-taking and I will not shy away from doing so."

Abraham said that he will conduct a personal review of Channel 4's operations as soon as he arrives. The review, and any action arising from it, would be swift, he added.

It is understood that the review is expected to be completed within a month and will not involve an outside consultancy.

Abraham also sought to allay fears that his commerical pay-TV background at UKTV and Discovery, which some observers have said points to a lack of original programme commissioning experience, might mean that Channel 4's creative output would be marginalised.

To this end he said that in his first six months he would spend mornings working with commissioners on the first floor of Channel 4's Horseferry Road HQ, and afternoons on the second floor with the corporate and strategy departments.

"The chief executive is not the director of programmes but that doesn't mean he or she is just the commercial or strategy director either," he added. "More than this, only if the chief executive is fully engaged as much with supporting content creation as with revenue generation can the organisation be said to be fully joined up, especially when so much change is happening around us."

Abraham appeared keen to mend divisions that opened up between the commercial and commissioning teams at Channel 4 under his predecessor Duncan, the former marketing executive who had a fraught relationship with Kevin Lygo, the director of television and content.

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